Coin sorter



y 7, 1965 R. B. WHITE, JR 3,196,887

COIN SORTER Original Filed March 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l ROBY BYRONWHITE, JR.

FIG. 6

ATTORNEYS July 27, 1965 R. B. WHITE, JR 3,196,387

COIN SORTER Original Filed March 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 9

INVENTOR.

ROBY BYRON WHITE, JR.

WWW

7 ATTORNEYS United States Patent M 3,196,887 COIN SORTER Roby B. White,Ira, Cumberland, RI, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Electronic CoilProcessing ()orp, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Griginalappiication Mar. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 798,264, now Patent No. 3,147,839.Divided and this application June 10, 1964, Ser. No. 384,275

7 Claims. (Cl. 133--3) This application is a division of applicationSerial No. 798,264, filed March 9, 1959, now Patent No. 3,147,839.

This application relates to coin processing devices. More particularlythe invention disclosed herein comprises a new and improved coin sortingmachine.

My invention is particularly suited for use by such organizations atelephone companies, transit authorities, vending machine operators,banks, parking meter operators, etc. which handle large quantities ofcoin. At the present time such organizations authenticate and countcoins either manually or semi-automatically which are very slow andtedious processes. Typically, coins from telephone pay stations areprocessed by telephone companies in the following manner. The coins areremoved from the telephones in individual boxes which are carried to acentral accounting office. At these offices, the boxes are individuallyopened, and their contents spread out on small tables and inspectedmanually to separate the counterfeit from the authentic coins.Thereafter, the authentic coins are counted by machines provided for thipurpose. Each telephone station must be credited with the dollar valueof the authentic coins received by it so that the proprietor of thepremises may receive his commission.

In the telephone system, my invention may be used in several ways. As aportable assembly, it may be taken to the site of each station and coinsremoved from the individual telephones may be proved and counted at oradjacent the premises. Alternatively, the assembly may be located at thecentral accounting ofiice and receive the contents of the individualboxes as they are brought to the accounting office from the separatestations. the use of my assembly, individual handling of the coins maybe totally eliminated even to the extent of making the bookkeepingentries and drawing the lease or commission checks to the proprietorswhere the stations are located. This completely automatic handling ismade possible because the machine may readily be connected to aconventional punch card process with no intermediate manual steps.

My portable assembly may also be used to collect coins from parkingmeters in a manner similar to that described above in connection withthe removal of coins from individual telephone stations. For thispurpose, a pick-up system is provided which is adapted to extract coinsfrom parking meters and feed them automatically into the coin handlingmachine. This is carried out in a manner which is in effect pilferproof.

My invention includes variou subassemblies which may be arranged invarious orders depending upon the particular application for the device.The subassemblies include a pick-up device for introducing coins to theassembly, a sorting mechanism for separating coins of variousdenominations according to size, a proving device for determining theauthenticity of the coins of each denomination, a device for separatingauthentic but multilated coins from those in good condition, and acounting mechanism for totaling the coins of each denomination and thoserejected as mutilated, all shown in my patent 3,196,887 Patented July27, 1965 application Serial No. 798,264 filed March 9, 1959, now PatentNo. 3,147,839 dated September 8, 1964.

Obviously, the various subassemblies may be used in differentcombinations. For example, the portable assembly used to collect coinsfrom telephone stations and parking meter would include a pick-up devicefor introducing coins to the unit, a sorter for separating the coins ofdifferent denomination received by the meters or telephone stations,provers for testing the authenticity of the coins of each denominationreceived, and the counting mechanism for totaling the value of the coinreceived. Banks may have several assemblies each one consisting of asorter, a single prover for the denomination of coin being handled, amutilated coin rejector, and a counter.

My coin sorter will be better understood and appreciated from thefollowing detailed description, read in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary view partly in section of the coin sortingsubassembly;

FIGURES 2-4 are fragmentary views in perspective illustrating differentcylindrical forms which may be used in the sorter of FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 5 and 6 are cross sectional views taken along section line 55 ofFIGURE 4 showing successive positions of a coin sorted by the cylinder;

FIGURE 7 is still another embodiment of cylinder which may be used inthe sorter of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged detailed view of the cylinder in FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a cross sectional view taken along the section line 9-9 inFIGURE 8; and

FIGURE 10 illustrates a modification of the cylinder or drum shown inFIGURE 7.

The sorter illustrated in FIGURE 1 is adapted to separate coins of alldenomination. That is, pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters andhalf-dollars may be handled by it. In FIGURE 1, the mechanism includesfive concentrically mounted drums 70, 71, 72, 73 and 74 secured togetherat one end 75 by a web or similar 'means (not shown). The fiveconcentrically mounted drums are rotated together about the common axisby a belt 76 which extends about the outer drum 74. The belt 76 is inturn driven by a motor 77 and its pulley 78. The relative diameters ofthe pulley 78 and the outer drum 74 provide the speed reductionnecessary. Obviously, any other arrangement may be used to impartrotation to the drums.

The five concentrically arranged drums are specifically designed toseparate the diiferent denominations of coin, that is, pennies, nickels,dimes, quarters and half-dollars. All but the outer drum 74 are coveredwith a lattice of perforations and the perforations in each drum aresized to pas all but the largest size of coins fed to it.

Coins are introduced into the drum assembly through a hopper 79 whichterminates at the inner drum 70 at the end 75. The common axis of thedrums is somewhat inclined, being lower at the end 80 and coins fed intothe rotating drums will move by gravity from the hopper 79 toward theend 80.

The perforations 81 formed in the drum 70 are large enough to passpennies, nickels, dimes and quarters but are insuflicient in size toallow half-dollars to pass through them. Thus, half dollars introducedinto the drum 70 by the hopper will be carried by gravity to the end 80of the assembly and slide down the chute 82. Similarly, the drum 71 iscovered with openings 83 which will not pass quarters but are largeenough to pass pennies, nickels, and dimes. The holes 84 in drum 72 willnot pass nickels, but will allow pennies and dimes to fall into the drum73. The holes 85 in drum 73 will retain pennies but will allow dimes topass into the outer drum 74. The drum 74 is imperforate, and, therefore,all coins which pass to it,

9 namely, dimes and small slugs will be discharged from it by the chute86. It will be noted that drums 71-73 are also provided with dischargechutes 87, 88 and 89, respectively.

Although the outer drum 74 is illustrated and described as beingimperforate, it should be understood that it also may be perforated topass coins smaller than dimes to still another drum. In this manner,obviously small counterfeit coins may be separated from other coinswhich at least approximate the size of authentic coins.

The orientation of the perforations and the drums may take any ofseveral forms. Various forms of each are suggested in FIGURES 2-10. InFIGURE 2, it will be noted that the holes 90 are aligned bothlongitudinally and circumferentially about the drum while in FIGURE 3,the holes 91 are arranged in staggered circumferential rows to increasetheir density. As between the embodiments of FIGURES 2 and 3, the latteris preferred, for obviously, a drum with such an arrangement will have agreater capacity.

In FIGURES 4-6, another embodiment of the drum is shown. In thisembodiment, the drum is formed as a polygon rather than round in crosssection and the openings or holes 92 lie on the corners 93 of thepolygon. That is, the transverse diameters of the openings with respectto the axis of the drum are coincident with the joints or corners ofadjacent surfaces. The advantage of such an arrangement is shown inFIGURES 5 and 6. While in the embodiments of FIGURES 2 and 3, a coinmust drop through the openings 90 or 91, that is, its sides must ineffect align themselves with the periphery of an opening. As the coinslides over the inner surface of the drum in the embodiment of FIGURES4-6, a coin may slide out of the drum through the openings 92 without achange in its direction of motion relative to the drum. This action issuggested in FIGURES 5 and 6.

While each of the embodiments of FIGURES 2-4 are adequate to handle thesorting operation in most applications, it will be appreciated thatdifficulties may occur when a great volume of coins are to be sorted.When great numbers of coins are contained within a single drum, as thedrum rotates, the coins pile up on one another at the lowermost part ofthe drum and only the coins which lie against the surface of the drumhave an opportunity to pass through the openings to the next outer drum.To avoid this difliculty, a tumbling action may be introduced todistribute the coins more evenly about the inner surface of the drum andavoid particular coins from riding on the top of a pile throughout thesorting action. In the embodiment of FIGURES 7-10, this tumbling actionis accomplished by providing the cross section of the drum 94 with a sawtooth configuration. Note that the arrow 95 in FIGURE 7 suggests thedirection in which the drum turns. The leading side 96 of each tooth 97serves as a support to carry the coins up the side of the drum. When thesupporting surface 96 of the folds in the drum which define the sawtooth cross section become inclined in a downwardly direction, towardthe center of the drum 94, the coins will fall or slide off thesesurfaces and the tumbling action results. Thus, coins are not allowed tobuild up on top of large coins or remain on the top of piles of coinsbut are continuously churned by the tumbling action.

It will be noted that the openings 98 formed in the drum are intersectedby the bases of the leading sides 96 of the saw tooth sections and thus,the coins are allowed to slide out of the openings in the mannersuggested in FIG- URE 9. It will be appreciated that this action issubstantially-identical to that illustrated in FIGURES 5 and 6.

In FIGURE 10, an additional modification is suggested. Adjacent the lowside 99 of each of the circumferential rows 100 of perforations 98, ribs101 are formed which retard the longitudinal travel of the coins in thedrum. These ribs which lie immediately adjacent the edges of thecircumferential rows 100 of the holes align the coins with 4 theperforations 93. As a result, those coins which are of a size to passthrough the openings will be directed to the openings to hasten thesorting action.

From the foregoing description, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat numerous modifications may be made of the inventions disclosedwithout departing from the spirit of my invention. Therefore, I do notintend to limit the breadth of my invention to the specific embodimentsillustrated and described, but rather, it is my intention that the scopeof my invention be determined by the appended claims and theirequivalents.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A coin sorter comprising a plurality of coaxial drums of differentsizes nested one within the other, means interconnecting each of thedrums and for rotating the drums about their common axis, each of saiddrums having a substantially cylindrical wall made up of a series ofconnected flat panels extending in an axial direction from one end ofthe drum to the other, a lattice of perforations formed in the walls ofthe drums and each perforation being formed from openings in twoadjacent panels, said perforations varying in size from drum to drumwith the innermost drum having the largest perforations, and means fordirecting coins to be sorted into the innermost drum.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 further characterized by the commonaxis of the drums being at an angle to the horizontal whereby coins inthe drums slide in the direction of their lower ends as the drumsrotate.

3. A coin sorter comprising a plurality of coaxial drums of differentsizes nested one about the other, means for rotating the drums abouttheir common axis, and means for introducing coins to be sorted into thecentral drum of the nest, each of said drums being made of a cylindricalwall covered with perforations, the perforations in each drum being ofuniform size and different in size from the perforations in the otherdrums, said cylindrical walls being bent into flat sections extendingparallel to the axes of the drums and with each perforation beingintersected by one of the bends.

4. A device as defined in claim 3 further characterized by the axes ofthe drums being inclined to the horizontal and the coins beingintroduced at the higher end of the centrally located drum, and ribsextending circumferentially about the inner wall of each drumimmediately adjacent the lower side of the perforations.

5. In a coin sorting machine, a drum having a cylindrical wall coveredwith circumferential and longitudinal rows of perforations, said wallbeing bent along longitudinal lines which intersect the longitudinalrows of perforations, and ribs secured to the inside of the drum andextending circumferentially about the drum immediately adjacent one sideof the circumferential rows of perforations.

6. A device as defined in claim 5 further characterized by said drumbeing inclined and with the ribs lying immediately adjacent the lowerside of the circumferential rows of perforations.

7. A device as defined in claim 5 further characterized by the bendsproviding the wall with the saW-tooth-shaped circumferential crosssection and with the longitudinal rows of perforations being intersectedby the bends more remote radially from the axis of the drum.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,169,493 1/16Kennedy 133-3 1,491,931 4/24 Stanforth 20986 1,585,242 5/26 Hageman l3331,668,626 5/28 Brandt 20986 2,038,096 4/36 Bresett 133-3 2,398,955 4/46OToole 133-3 EVERETT W. KIRBY, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS I. DEMBO, Examiner.

5. IN A COIN STORING MACHINE, A DRUM HAVING A CYLINDRICAL WALL COVEREDWITH CIRCUMFERENTIAL AND LONGITUDINAL ROWS OF PERFORATIONS, SAID WALLBEING BENT ALONG LONGITUDINAL LINES WHICH INTERSECT THE LONGITUDINALROWS OF PERFORATIONS, AND RIBS SECURED TO THE INSIDE OF THE DRUM ANDEXTENDING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY ABOUT THE DRUM IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT ONE SIDEOF THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL ROWS OF PERFORATIONS.